Britsox Lose To Thunder

NEW BRITAIN — Shannon Withem's confidence could have been shattered by his Trenton Thunder teammates. Too many errors and too few hits left Withem with 10 losses in his first 17 Double A starts.

``That could bury somebody,'' Withem said after a 4-2 victory over the Britsox Friday. ``Actually ruin their career, going through what I've gone through.''

Withem, a righthander, has salvaged his season. In his past 26 innings, he has allowed four earned runs. His ERA in July is 1.45 and he has pitched into at least the eighth inning in his past three starts.

His latest was a five-hitterbefore 2,147 at Beehive Fieldto help the Thunder end a six-game losing streak. Withem (4-10) allowed two runs in the first, then held the Britsox (42-56) to three hits and retired 10 of the final 11.

The Britsox, whose three-game winning streak ended, lost their lead in the fifth -- the only bad inning by righthander Tim Smith (6-10). After a four- error game Thursday, another error contributed to Trenton's four-run fifth.

Smith retired seven in a row before walking Tony Clark leading off. Mike Rendina (4-for-4) singled to right and Tim McConnell walked to load the bases.

Smith (two earned runs, two hits) was replaced by righthander Joe Hudson in the sixth. Hudson pitched two scoreless innings, allowing two hits.

The Britsox took a 2-0 lead on a double by Matt Stairs in the first. Patrick Lennon led off witha single and Paul Rappoli reached on an error before Jose Malave popped out.

Stairs lined a double into the left- center field gap, scoring Lennon and Rappoli.

Withem allowed a leadoff walk to Alex Delgado in the second before retiring nine in a row. The Britsox got two singles in the fifth, but were unable to score.

New Britain also got a leadoff walk from Rappoli in the sixth. Malave reached on a fielder's choice, but was thrown out stealing on the pitch Stairs took for strike three.

``This is perfect timing, since [major league teams] always look at the second half,'' said Withem, who was 10-2 for Class A Lakeland last season. ``And since I'm on [Detroit's] 40-man roster, you never know. A September callup if they don't strike.''

Gonzalez released

The Red Sox released catcher Javier Gonzalez (.193 in 30 games) and the Britsox got lefthander Mike Raczka from Triple A Pawtucket. Raczka of Southington began the season with New Britain, was promoted to Pawtucket and returned to New Britain last week.